@supersid333 @zero @fishsticks While yes, the typical MTGroid criticism that the game has some design flaws is partially true (btw it was a shounen manga, not kodomo, Yugi and Joey trade JAV tapes after all) Konami eventually figured out where to go with it after a few sets and the unique mechanics like the Extra Deck and Trap Cards got to shine. The real problems are:
a) They fell asleep at the wheel towards the end of the Pendulum era and the game got too "fast" for what the mechanics can even handle. Decks do too much turn 1 and then other decks HAVE to be hyper consistent and HAVE to spend all of their resources turn 1 to stand a chance which not only leads to the degenerate break my board games, but also very same-y games as well.
b) There's no real comeback mechanic. While Gorz helped with this for a long time, he and his ilk simply aren't enough to deal with an established board if you openly poorly and get your board broken. Most decks simply do not have enough gas left in the tank to get over multiple disruptions twice. I shouldn't have to tell you why this leads to less interesting games.
Still, I'd say the game had some good formats even into early Pendulum era, and the problem is NOT any given summoning mechanic (except Link Monsters kinda).
Thank you for coming to my tedtalk.